Clareville Cemetery Natural Burials Information session

June 16, 2017 @ 11:15 am - 12:00 pm

From 1st July 2017, Clareville Cemetery will offer Natural Burials as an alternative to normal burial options. Carterton District Council has made the decision after numerous enquiries and requests for natural burials.

Over the past 15 years a public movement has grown in New Zealand in which citizens from all walks of life say that they want, after their death, to be buried in what is known as a “natural burial”.

A Natural Burial consists of a burial of a person in a manner that maximises the opportunity for natural decomposition processes to work; Shallow burial, untreated coffins and local native trees planted over the plot are all part of the Natural Burial method.

The council Parks and Reserves team have been preparing the selected site at Clareville Cemetery over the past few years, whilst working closely with Mark Blackham, founder of the not-for-profit Natural Burial Organisation.

Parks and Reserves Manager, Brian McWilliams believes that council is fulfilling a need of the community. “We often receive requests for Natural Burials, it is important to us that at this sensitive time in life, all options for burial can be offered. We have the space and have planned for natural burials for some time, it’s all coming together.”

To encourage the discussion about Natural Burials, the council has invited Mr Blackham to host an information session and help answer questions from the public on Friday 16th June, 11.15am at the Carterton Events Centre.

Mr McWilliams says they have compiled fact sheets about the process, “We want to make sure we can offer as much information as possible to the public, this includes the process, and costs involved.”

Questions from the information session will be used to compile FAQ on the council website.